Texas Republicans File 39 Anti-Abortion Bills This Session

Undeterred by the US Supreme Court calling out the lies they used to justify restrictions in previous sessions, anti-abortion politicians are at it again.

Filing more than 35 anti-abortion bills this session — which runs through May 29 — backwards Republican politicians have made clear their intention to further interfere in decisions that should be between a woman, her family, and her doctor.

Their goal: to eviscerate access and erode autonomy by adding these restrictions — which range from the cruel to the bizarre — to the already existing mountain of restrictions and barriers faced by a woman seeking an abortion in Texas.

HB 87 by Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler: 512-463-0584) would force a woman who discovers a severe fetal abnormality — a fetus that cannot survive outside the womb — after 20 weeks to carry the pregnancy to term.

HB 1049 by Rep. Valoree Swanson (R-Spring: 512-463-0572) would violate the doctor-patient relationship and would ban abortions except in very limited circumstances and would revoke the license of physicians performing abortions outside these very limited exceptions.

SB 20 by Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood: 512-463-0111) and HB 1113 by State Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo 512-463-0702) would ban insurance coverage of abortion in all plans, whether exchange-based or private, limiting Texans’ access to care based on their income.

Status: SB 20 Passed out of Senate; HB 1113, Left Pending in House State Affairs Committee

Fetal Burial

HB 35/HB 201 by Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana: 512-463-0730) would require the cremation or burial of embryonic and fetal tissue after an abortion or miscarriage. This cruel measure is entirely medically unnecessary and is designed to stigmatize and shame women seeking abortion and cut off access to abortion. A corresponding rule proposed by Governor Greg Abbott — proposed just days after the Supreme Court struck down two Texas abortions restrictions as unconstitutional — is being challenged in federal court and has been temporarily blocked from going into effect by a federal judge.

Status: HB 35, Left Pending in State Affairs Committee; HB 201, No action taken in committee

SB 258 by Sen. Don Huffines (R-Dallas: 512-463-0116) would force a woman seeking an abortion to fill out a form on the burial or cremation of embryonic and fetal tissue.

SB 406 by Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood: 512-463-0102) and HB 2348 by Rep. Valoree Swanson (R- Spring: 512-463-0572) would require a death certificate for and the cremation or burial of embryonic and fetal tissue.

SB 8 by Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown: 512-463-0105) and HB 200 by Rep. Cindy Burkett (R-Sunnyvale: 512-463-0464) would prohibit doctors from performing a specific abortion procedure that the anti-abortion movement has branded a “partial birth abortion.” These bills are based in and perpetuate extreme anti-abortion ideology rather than being grounded in science or practice, even. The intact dilation and evacuation (D and X) abortion procedure — as is it actually called by the medical community — is already prohibited by federal law. As is the the provision of SB 8 that would ban that sale of fetal tissue.

SB 415 by Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock: 512-463-0128) and HB 844 by State Rep. Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth: 512-463-0599) would ban the most commonly used abortion method performed in the second trimester, dilation and evacuation (D&E), by criminalizing doctors, and uses unscientific and inflammatory language to stigmatize the procedure.

Status: SB 415, Passed out of Senate; HB 844, Referred to House State of Affairs

Coerced Abortion Myth

HB 612 by Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano: 512-463-0544) uses the myth of coerced abortion to impose a 72+ hour waiting period and ignores the complexities of intervening in cases of domestic or sexual violence.

SB 25 by Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe: 512-463-0104) and HB 434 by Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton: 512-463-0478) would eliminate the “wrongful birth” legal claim and shield medical professionals from liability for withholding information that may have resulted in a woman obtaining an abortion. By potentially limiting the information a woman is entitled to receive, this bill could undermine a woman’s ability to decide whether or not to have an abortion.

HB 1971 by Rep. Matt Schaefer (R- Tyler: 512-463-0584) and SB 1427 by Kelly Hancock (R- North Richland Hills: 512-463-0109) would require a pregnant woman be given a list of infant hospice care options to dissuade her from having an abortion.

HB 1936 by Rep. Drew Springer (R-Muenster: 512-463-0526) and SB 855 by Sen. Donna Campbell (R- New Braunfels: 512-463-0125)would prohibit abortion facilities and their affiliates from entering into any transaction with any government entity.

Status:HB 1936, Reported Favorably out of House Committee, Placed on General State Calendar; SB 855, Referred to Health and Human Services Committee

HB 3544 by Rep. Briscoe Cain (R- Deer Park: 512-463-0733) would bar state funds from going to facilities that perform stem cell research and to health care providers who perform abortions.

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